Thursday, December 01, 2005

The "Choking Game": A Potentially Deadly Middle School Phenomenon

Updated 12/21/05: This article appeared in today's Cincinnati Enquirer. In Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati, the "game" is sometimes referred to as "gasp."

A recent article in the San Antonio Express-News should serve as a wake up call to parents of middle school students. The article discusses the increasing phenomenon called the "choking game" in which the "goal is a fleeting 'high' that follows a lack of oxygen to the brain and has teens across the nation throttling themselves with belts and ropes, choking each other with bare hands or pulling plastic bags over their heads until they nearly pass out." At Alamo Heights Junior School, a number of students were caught playing this "game" and were suspended as a result.

I had not heard of the choking game, so I did some online research and discovered that there has been great deal written about this problem that has resulted in the deaths of dozens of children between the ages of 10 and 17. Perhaps the most informative website I found is www.teenchokinggame.com which states that the "choking game" may also be known as airplaning, america dream game, black out game (black-out game, blackout game), chocking game (choking game), dream game (dreaming game), fainting game, flat line game (flat liner, flat-line game, flat-liner game, flatline game, flatliner game), funky chicken, hyperventilation games, knock out game (knockout game), pass out game (pass-out game, passing out game, passout game), rising sun game, something dreaming game, space cowboy, space monkey, suffocation game, suffocation roulette, teen choking game or the tingling game.

A google search limited to Texas returned 10,300 hits. All of the websites I viewed strongly urge parents to talk to their children about this extremely dangerous conduct.

Warning sent after kids flirt with death

In a local manifestation of a dangerous fad, students at Alamo Heights Junior School were caught playing the "choking game," according to a note sent home to parents this week.

The game's goal is a fleeting "high" that follows a lack of oxygen to the brain and has teens across the nation throttling themselves with belts and ropes, choking each other with bare hands or pulling plastic bags over their heads until they nearly pass out.

Also called "space monkey" and "flatline," the risky diversion is thought to have killed at least five children in four states since September and has garnered widespread media attention.

Kevin Brown, a spokesman for the Alamo Heights School District, said a student alerted Principal Stephanie Kershner Monday afternoon that a small group of kids was outside the school choking one another while they were waiting for their parents to come pick them up after school.

Brown said none of the students was injured. They were punished with in-school suspensions, he said.

Kershner sent an e-mail and letter to parents either Monday or Tuesday to alert them to the game, Brown said.

Kershner attached a July report by CBS News detailing the death of California teen Gabriel Mordecai, whose 13-year-old twin brother found him sitting on the ground with a rope around his neck.

The article lists warning signs such as marks around the neck, headaches and bloodshot eyes.

"These are good kids," Brown said of the Alamo Heights students. "They are doing something they have heard about and they very appropriately recognized that is not something that is OK to do. They are very remorseful and that is a real good sign."

The mother of a seventh-grader involved in the after-school incident said it happened Friday.

The woman, who asked not to be identified, said her child and a neighbor's child had told her last week they were getting high by hyperventilating and having someone press down on their chests to produce the sensation of getting the wind knocked out of them.

She said she was planning to tell school officials but did not have a chance before Friday.

The woman said she read news reports about the game, but found only mentions of belts, ropes and plastic bags rather than the version her child reported playing.

"It's a variation that is much more insidious," she said. "It is not readily evident to the kids that this is a stupid thing to do. Most of these kids would not have gone and wrapped something around their necks. But I could see a kid having read that article and not seeing what they were doing was the same thing."

All forms of the choking game are risky, said Dr. Stephen A. Carter, a family physician at North Central Urgent Care.

Cutting off the oxygen supply can cause brain damage, heart dysfunction and even death if air is cut off long enough, Carter said.

Children do it for a lightheaded feeling that lasts a few minutes, he said.

They often black out or become disoriented. Blood vessels hemorrhage in the whites of their eyes and their parents bring them to the doctor complaining about headaches, he said. When doctors decipher the cause, parents often are clueless, Carter said.

"This is a good time for us to be able to communicate with parents about this trend that a lot of people don't even know about," said Brown, of Alamo Heights.

"Apparently, this happens at home a lot. We don't know the extent of it."

mludwig@express-news.net

Web Posted: 11/24/2005 12:00 AM CST

Comments

I will probably get censored, but I just wanted to say....I struggle with this 'game' which can be like an addiction. When I was nine a friend showed me how to do it and now I sometimes do it when I'm alone and stop just as I'm about to pass out or let myself down right before I lose consciousness.....I wish there was a twelve step program to help with this. Don't start.

This "chocking game" is probably far more serious than ANYONE knows! I am in my 50"s, and I can remember the girls doing a similar thing in the girls bathroom at school, and NO adult ever knew about it. And this was in elementary school! I had forgotten about this thing, I thought it was silly. I didn't need to be popular in such a way. I am a very frightened grandmother, now. I'm sure peer pressure is having a major part in this.

i was 13 when i started this game it is a varient of course instead of choking directly i applied pressure to the arteries on either side of my throat i got dizzy and then got a rush when i stopped i still do it to this day and it is an addiction i wish i could quit easily i go long periods without doing it then pick it back up again its hell and the thing is that after a while u start to have seizures they get more frequent and longer as u do it and can cause collapse and injusry from falling or muscle spasms which can cause u to run into stuff and what not one time i did it and almost impaled my eye on a soap dispenser i grabbed the counter but my body jerked forward if i hadnt had my hands on the counter it woulda been ugly kids can do it in their rooms with the doors open its not a good thing and dont start doing it im horrified now of what will happen if i keep going

Kids think nothing will hurt them - this is not a drug - just one time, etc. My son was one of them. He was only 16 He was a "good kid". He would have never tried drugs. He loved life - loved his 9 siblings - and most of all loved God. He had compassion for people. But, he learned of a game - this game he lost - lost his life. He tried the "choking game". His 11 year old brother found him hanging. His 15 year old brother cut him down. We are just past a year since his death, and it's still very hard. This game is dangerous, foolish, and mostly likely WILL cause death.

I will probably get censored, but I just wanted to say....I struggle with this 'game' which can be like an addiction. When I was nine a friend showed me how to do it and now I sometimes do it when I'm alone and stop just as I'm about to pass out or let myself down right before I lose consciousness.....I wish there was a twelve step program to help with this. Don't start.